The present invention relates to ratchet wrenches, and more particularly, to a bi-directional ratchet wrench that can be attached to the workpiece in either of two reversed directions, and does not slip from the workpiece when driven to rotate the workpiece.
When operating a ratchet wrench to rotate a nut on a screw rod, the ratchet wrench may slip from the nut (see FIGS. 13 and 14). In order to eliminate this problem, ratchet wrenches with protruded holding down means are developed (see FIGS. 15xcx9c20). The protruded holding down means holds down the workpiece when operating the ratchet wrench to rotate the workpiece. According to conventional designs, the protruded holding down means is comprised of a spring-supported steel ball. The installation of the spring-supported steel ball greatly increases the manufacturing cost of the ratchet wrench. Further, the spring-supported steel ball tends to be forced backwards and disengaged from the workpiece when operating the ratchet wrench to rotate the workpiece, thereby causing the ratchet wrench to slip from the workpiece.
The present invention has been accomplished to provide a bi-directional ratchet wrench, which eliminates the aforesaid drawbacks. It is one object of the present invention to provide a bi-directional ratchet wrench, which can be attached to the workpiece in either of two reversed directions. It is another object of the present invention to provide a bi-directional ratchet wrench, which has means to hold down the workpiece to be rotated, for enabling the workpiece to be accurately rotated with the ratchet wrench. It is still another object of the present invention to provide a bi-directional ratchet wrench, which is inexpensive to manufacture. According to one aspect of the present invention, the bi-directional ratchet wrench comprises a wrench body having a box at one end, an annular ratchet wheel mounted in the box of the wrench body, a toothed stop member mounted in the box and meshed with the ratchet wheel, the ratchet wheel having an inside locating groove extended around an inside wall thereof and dividing the axially extended center through hole thereof into two coupling portions adapted for selectively coupling to the workpiece to be rotated, and a baffle plate mounted in the inside locating groove of the ratchet wheel and adapted for holding down the workpiece to be rotated. According to another aspect of the present invention, the height of the inside locating groove is greater than the thickness of the baffle plate, so that the baffle plate can be moved axially in the inside locating groove to adjust the depth of the selected coupling portion.